Résumé

Consumer behavior is one of the pillars of marketing. Since the beginning of the century it has been approached through different points of view, which have emphasized many aspects of consumer behavior, such as economic, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional.
According Kotler (1998), “marketers need to understand what’s happen in the consumer’s mind between the stimulus and purchase decision”. As new research techniques have been used, relevant information has been discovered about consumer behavior related to processes which occur between received stimulus and produced response.
Among these new techniques, some have been borrowed from another science which also tries to understand human behavior with emphasis on what happens inside human mind, the Neuroscience. This science is interested in how thought occurs and its relationship with emotions and decisions.
Understanding the consumer has been one of the great challenges of marketing area. Marketing researchers have been encouraged to carry out a large number of investigations and discoveries in the sphere of consumer behavior in order to identify consumers’ preferences, and uncover attitudes and influences that lead them to acquire certain brands at specific locations. With medicine and neuroscience advance a new dimension emerges in the field of marketing research in consumer behavior, Neuromarketing. (Amber et al, 2000, Lee et al., 2006).
Neuroscience applied to consumer behavior seeks to bring out the mental processes that support buying decisions, for example, brain reactions to stimuli of different advertising messages. Using devices that record images of the brain, neuroscientists seek to know which areas of the brain are activated when people are exposed to brands or products. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides an overview of changes in blood flow and oxygenation in certain brain areas which can result from external stimuli. (Plassmann et al, 2007, Kenning et al, 2008).
Besides, cultural issues have guided much of the aspects that involve the international business studies. The success of a company that aspires to the international market seems to be directly related to its ability to understand and know how to take appropriate measures to each culture in the markets they aimed. This thesis proposal aims to analyze the impact of culture in cosmetic communication for women from two different countries. According to Elinda (1965 apud Onkvisit and Shaw, 1999), who believed that differences in consumer tastes would be minor and superficial, advertising could be globally standardized. Levitt (1983) argued that companies should ignore the regional and national differences and offer standardized products to all cultures. According to this theory, if a product has low price, high quality and reliability, it would be enough for everyone accepts it, including its standardized advertisement. Onkvisit and Shaw (1999) argue that advertisement can be standardized for countries which cultures are more alike. Authors highlight the increasing internationalization of habits and values.
On the other hand, Alves (2007) studied the perception of over 10,000 ads addressed to women. She collected ads from 72 magazines (36 from Brazil and 36 from USA). Using in-depth interviews, she investigated whether cultural differences could be seen in magazine advertising for female audience in Brazil and USA. This study aimed to evaluate whether ads could be applied globally. The results showed that, in general, the same ad can’t be applied in United States and Brazil.
Therefore, in international business, the culture is important, exerting a strong influence on individual taste, habits, and preferences. As cosmetics companies and their marketing strategies are increasingly globalized, it is important to understand how a particular advertisement is interpreted by consumers in different cultures. Understanding this process is a critical success factor for a good marketing strategy.